Vietnam pre-arrival form errors, and what each box accepts

Checked 6 November 2026 by Darius Cheung. Independent guide, not a government website.

Short answer

Most errors on Vietnam's pre-arrival form come from checks in the page. Names take only English letters, digits and spaces, so a hyphen or apostrophe shows "Invalid". Passport numbers are letters and digits, up to 15. Phone numbers are 3 to 14 digits. Dates are DD/MM/YYYY, and departure must be after arrival and before your visa expires. After Submit, the emailed 6-digit code has to be entered before it runs out.

The form's messages

Copied from the site's own English text.

MessageWhyFix
"Please fill in the field above"A required box is empty, or a list box has typed text but no picked row.Type a few letters and click a row.
"Invalid"A name or passport number has a character the box doesn't take, such as a hyphen, a dash or an accented letter.Names: letters, digits, spaces. Passport: letters and digits only. Type "Nguyen", not "Nguyá»…n".
"The phone number must contain only digits and be between 3 and 14 characters long."Spaces, dashes or a plus sign in the number.Digits only. The country code has its own box.
"Invalid email format"The address failed the format check.Look for a missing dot, an extra space or a missing @.
"Passport expiry date cannot be in the past."An expired passport, or a typo in the year.Use the date on the photo page.
"Date of birth cannot be in the future."Often day and month swapped.Dates go day, month, year.
"Invalid passport number. Please check again."The site checks the number with its server as you type, and this one wasn't accepted.Recheck every character, such as 0 and O. If it's right, only immigration can say why.
"Date of departure from Vietnam must be later than the date of arrival."The departure date is before arrival.Pick a later date.
"Date of departure from Vietnam must be earlier than the Visa expiry date."You'd still be in Vietnam after your visa ends.Check the visa expiry you typed, and your plans.
"Flight number must contain only letters and numbers"A space or dash in a flight typed by hand.Type it like VN1234.
"Please check this box to continue."The visa notice or the Review tick is empty.Read it, then tick it.

Names

There are two boxes. Surname is optional and given name is required. Both take English letters, digits and spaces, and nothing else. Hyphens, apostrophes and full stops show "Invalid", unlike Singapore's form, which allows them. If your passport name has a hyphen, the code lines at the bottom of the photo page show it in plain letters, which is a fair guide to what to type.

Dates run on Vietnam time

The arrival date isn't typed. It's three buttons, today and the next two days, worked out in GMT+7. Late in the evening in Europe, Vietnam is already on the next day, so the buttons may have moved on. If your trip is further out, the form simply doesn't offer it; come back nearer the time. Other dates are typed as DD/MM/YYYY, and a wrong layout shows "Invalid date format. Please use the DD/MM/YYYY format."

Flights and hotels come from lists

The flight box searches the site's own list as you type (the hint reads "Enter flight number (e.g., VN1234)"). Click a result and the arrival airport fills itself. If your flight isn't listed, choose Other and type it. The hotel address works the same way, searched within the province and ward you picked. Staying with friends or in a rented flat? Choose Residential or Others and type the address.

After you press Submit: the emailed code

The form sends a 6-digit code to the email you gave and waits for it. These are its messages:

The site's text has two more about submitting. "The declaration submission session has expired or is invalid. Please reload the page or create a new declaration." means the page sat too long, so start again. The other is good news in disguise: "The processing time is taking longer than expected. However, your declaration has been successfully received by the system." Wait for the email rather than filing twice.

Questions people ask

Why does my name show "Invalid" on Vietnam's form?

The name boxes accept English letters, digits and spaces only. A hyphen, apostrophe, full stop or accented letter is refused.

Why can't I pick my arrival date?

Only today and the next two days are offered, in Vietnam time. A later date appears once it's within that window.

My flight isn't in the list. What now?

Choose Other and type the flight number, letters and digits only. The list is the site's own, so a new or charter flight may be missing.

The code never arrived. What should I do?

Check junk mail and the address you typed, then press Resend. If the session runs out, reload the page and start a new declaration.

Typed it right once? ArrivalFiller keeps the version the form accepted, so the next trip starts from answers that already passed these checks.

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Where this comes from

Rules change, so check the official site before you travel. Where we quote a form's message, we copied it from the form's own public code. Some messages may rarely appear, and we don't run test submissions on government forms.